Malcolm Fraser
FRASER, Malcolm, CE CMG KCMG (1834-1900)
Malcolm Fraser was born in Heavitree, Devon, England in 1834, the son of William Fraser and Catherine Fraser, nee Austin. Fraser served his articles as a civil engineer in Bristol and then in 1855 he travelled to New Zealand. By 1857, he was working as a surveyor in Auckland. The posts he held were:
- 1857-1859 surveyor in Auckland
- 1859-1863 District Surveyor Native Land Purchase Department
- 1863-1867 District Surveyor Canterbury West Goldfields
- 1867-1869 Chief Surveyor County of Westland
On October 3, 1861 Fraser married Elizabeth Reddiford at Lower Hutt, New Zealand. They had three sons and two daughters. Two of the sons, George (1873) and Roderick (1876) were born in Perth. The eldest son, William, died at Roebourne in the Pilbara in 1884. William had been shot in November 1883 whilst working in the Pilbara and did not fully recover from his wounds. The youngest son, Roderick, died in infancy in 1876. The eldest daughter, Minnie, married Henry Ernest Parry, the son of the Anglican Archbishop of Perth. Henry Parry was a surveyor and engineer, who is reputed to have established the first telephone system at Geraldton in 1881. The youngest daughter, Ada, first married bank manager, George Norman, and following his death married solicitor Alexander Matheson.
In August 1870, John Septimus Roe resigned as Surveyor General for Western Australia, aged 73; his wife had died the previous month and this may have contributed to his decision to resign from the position he had occupied for over 40 years. Malcolm Fraser and his family arrived in Western Australia in December, 1870, and by the end of that year he was appointed as Surveyor General for Western Australia. He soon set about reorganising the Crown Lands Office after its long period of management by Septimus Roe. His appointment as Surveyor General also made Malcolm Fraser a member of both the Executive and Legislative Council.
The entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, by F K Crowley, describes the dramatic improvements made by Malcolm Fraser:
Fraser soon reorganized his department, reduced its permanent staff to the few officers competent in geodetical and trigonometrical surveying and insisted that the routine field work of pegging and traversing be done by private surveyors at piecework rates. The permanent staff became inspectors and also conducted a large scale trigonometrical survey which, when completed in the late 1880s, linked all the coastal regions of Western Australia from the Kimberley in the north to the Esperance district in the south. This survey led to the making of accurate lithographic maps which were of great value to would be farmers and itinerant gold seekers as well as giving pastoralists better security of tenure by accurately locating and defining the boundaries of their leases and thereby enabling them to raise loans.
Fraser raised the entrance standards to the surveying profession and, with the help of his deputy, John Forrest, made the Crown Lands Office the most efficient, economical, corruption free and revenue producing of the government departments. Fraser was also a key contributor to the creation of Kings Park, where, today, Fraser Avenue commemorates his role. Fraser's Restaurant (operating in the Park at the time of writing, 2020) is also named after him.
Standing left to right: The Hon. Josceline Amherst (Secretary), the Hon. Anthony O'Grady Lefroy (Colonial Treasurer), the Hon. Sir John Forrest (Commissioner for Crown Lands & Surveyor General), the Hon. J. Arthur Wright (Director of Public Works & Commissioner for Railways & Engineer in Chief), the Hon. Sir J.G. Lee Steere (Speaker of the Legislative Council);
Sitting left to right: The Hon. Sir Malcolm Fraser (Colonial Secretary), the Governor (Sir Frederick Napier Broome), the Hon. Charles Nicholas Warton (Attorney General)
Source: State Library of Western Australia
In 1872, Malcolm Fraser was given the additional responsibility of Commissioner of Crown Lands. Public Works was also brought under Fraser’s control, and from 1874 to 1876 he was both Surveyor General and Commissioner of Works. Malcolm Fraser had trained but not practised as a civil engineer, and his limited railway knowledge made control of the Geraldton to Northampton rail line difficult. This was exacerbated by the unexpected death of the Victorian based engineering consultant advising on the project, James Major.
In January 1876, Malcolm Fraser resigned as Commissioner of Works and this led to the recruitment of an experienced railway engineer, John Henry Thomas, who, later that year, became WA's Chief Engineer and Director of Public Works.
In January 1883 Fraser was appointed Colonial Secretary with John Forrest assuming the vacated post of Surveyor General. In 1888 Fraser deputised for the WA Governor, Sir Frederick Napier Broome. Again in December 1889 on Sir Frederick’s departure from the colony, Malcolm Fraser assumed the role of Deputy to the Governor, until the swearing in of Sir William Robinson in October 1890.
For his public service, Malcolm Fraser was awarded the CMG in 1881 and the KCMG in 1887. On November 31, 1890, Malcolm Fraser and his wife sailed from Albany on the “RMS Parramatta” to retire in England on a pension. He was subsequently appointed the first Agent General for Western Australia, a position he held from April 1892 to April 1898, during an incredibly important time for Western Australia.
Malcolm Fraser died of a heart condition on Clifton Downs near Bristol, Gloucestershire on August 17, 1900, aged 66 years. His wife Elizabeth, and two of his sons, William and Roderick, had predeceased him. He was survived by his son George and daughters Minnie and Ada. His youngest daughter, Ada Matheson, was in Great Britain at the time and was able to attend his funeral.
A well respected administrator, Malcolm Fraser, left a significant legacy in Western Australia through an expanded rail and telegraph network and through his United Kingdom based support of the expansion of the WA economy during the gold rush period. He also contributed to the successful establishment of responsible government in WA by 1890.
References:
F K Crowley, Fraser, Sir Malcolm (1834–1900), Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fraser-sir-malcolm-3570 <Accessed online 4 July 2020>.
F K Crowley, Big John Forrest, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, 2000
J S H Le Page, Building a State, Water Authority of Western Australia, Leederville, 1986
D Black and G Bolton, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, WA Parliament, Perth, 2001
West Australian, 25.9.1900.
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